Another Insanity Acquittee Charged With Assault At Whiting

Woman police say was assaulted at state mental health hospital was U of Hartford doctoral student

MIDDLETOWN — Weeks after a Superior Court judge sent an insanity acquittee back to prison following his arrests in connection with a series of violent attacks on patients and staff at the state's maximum-security psychiatric hospital, police said that a doctoral psychology student was sexually assaulted by another legally insane man at the hospital.

Jamel Smith, recently acquitted by reason of insanity in the attempted murder of a fellow prison inmate, yelled, "I was trying to rape her," as a rehabilitation specialist at Connecticut Valley Hospital's Whiting Forensic Division came to the aid of the screaming student who had been interviewing Smith during the Oct. 29 incident, according to recently released court documents.

The reported sexual assault follows a series of other documented violent attacks at Whiting allegedly at the hands of another insanity acquittee, Francis Anderson. Anderson, 45, a career criminal, was recently ordered by a Superior Court judge to move from the hospital to a prison facility following his arrests in connection with the attacks, which police said caused injuries to patients and staff.

Officials with the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, which oversees the hospital, and the University of Hartford said Friday that the Oct. 29 attack was unusual. Doctoral students, they said, have done course work at Connecticut Valley Hospital for years without any serious incidents occurring.

"One person I spoke with could only remember one incident in the past 10 years where we had something like this," said University of Hartford spokesman David Isgur.

Isgur said the student as of Friday had returned to her work at the hospital but has been reassigned to a different unit.

"This was a placement that she chose, something she wanted to be involved in, and she continues to feel strongly that this is a field she wants to be a part of," Isgur said. "Thankfully, she feels good and strong enough to go back and continue her work."

The unidentified student told police that she was scheduled to have a psychotherapy session with Smith, 38, when he appeared in the room and "appeared very anxious, stressed and also expressed having a 'war' in his mind and 'feeling lust,'" according to a report from the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services' Public Safety Division.

Smith grew agitated, the report states, and asked if the student would take his hand. She refused, citing the boundaries between a patient and psychologist. When Smith tried to hug the student, she told him to stop, and attempted to push him away. Smith told the student, "don't fight it," the report says.

Smith then grabbed her arms, began to tear off her shirt and fondle her, the report states.

"Smith's attempt was so aggressive that he tore" the student's bra "and scratched her chest and breast area" as he pushed her to a chair and tore off what is described in the report as a "Whiting Forensic body alarm" that she was unable to activate, the report says.

The woman screamed as Smith tried to pull off her pants, prompting other staff members in adjacent rooms to call for help.

The rehabilitation specialist told police that he ran into the room and grabbed Smith and pulled him away from the student. A nurse told police that the student "appeared stressed, scared and was trembling while holding her face down in her hands," the police report says. The student declined medical help but said she wished to file criminal charges against Smith.

Smith was taken to a "Restraint Room," according to the report, and placed in "four-point restraints" and given medication.

Smith wasreturned to Whiting following his arraignment last month on the assault charges and is due back at Superior Court in Middletown on Nov. 24.

The assault occurred just days before he was to be sentenced in the attempted murder case that put him in Whiting in the first place. At that sentencing on Nov. 10, a Superior Court judge committed Smith to the custody of the state Psychiatric Security Review Board for 25 years following his acquittal by reason of insanity of trying to kill another inmate at the Osborn Correctional Institution in Somers.

The judge ordered Smith held at Whiting while he awaits his hearing before the Psychiatric Security Review Board in January. The board, by state law, reviews the status of acquittees in administrative hearings and orders the level of supervision and treatment for the acquittee that is needed to protect the public.

The judge acted on the recommendation of Dr. Mark Cotterell, a Whiting forensic psychiatrist who evaluates insanity acquittees. Cotterell testified at Smith's sentencing that Smith should be held at Whiting based on his diagnosis, his inability to control his symptoms, his aggressive and angry actions toward others and "his struggles to achieve insight into his condition and why he's acted this way."

Cotterell testified that Smith had his first interaction with the mental health system when he was 12. In 2002, he was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and Cotterell testified that heshows mood disorder symptoms, such as mania or depression, and acts on orders from voices he hears and hallucinations.

James Siemianowski, director of evaluation, quality management and improvement at the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, said he could not disclose the results of a review that the department conducted into the Oct. 29 incident but said that such reviews often result in procedural changes.

"We look at the whole chain of events, decision-making policies and procedures, and we look at what changes can be made," Siemianowski said. "The review is focused on strengthening the system, the things that help us learn from the incident and help us stop something similar from happening in the future."

Siemianowski said that, historically, doctoral clinical psychology students work one-on-one with patients alone in the forensic unit with other staff members in nearby rooms.

These staff members are informed that the students are in the sessions with the patients. He said the students are trained to work with difficult patients and about safety protocols and crisis intervention before they interview patients.

"Students, like any staff, receive orientation about routine safety procedures and the use of emergency alerts that are issued to anyone on the unit," Siemianowski said. "Unfortunately, sometimes patients' behavior may be unpredictable."

Siemianowski said that because of patient confidentiality, he could not disclose whether any changes were made in Smith's treatment or in his security setting.

"Any time something like this happens, a patient's treatment plan is reviewed or modified if necessary," he said. "We look at whether medications should be changed or there should be increased restrictions."

Isgur said that every year, about 50 students who have already gone through undergraduate and master's work conduct practicums in mental health facilities in Connecticut. Students select where they want to work based on their education and career goals.

After students decide on their placement, a contract is worked out outlining the responsibilities of the student and the facility.

"There is supervision on both ends," he said.

Students at that level, he said, have already worked with patients with mental health issues.

"They have already had a fair amount of academic training and professional training before being put in that situation," he said. "And they get even more training before they begin, so we feel confident in their abilities to handle these kinds of situations."

In the case of Francis Anderson, however, veteran Whiting employees said they found themselves unable to protect themselves in certain violent situations.

Anderson was acquitted by reason of insanity of charges of assaulting a correctional officer and breach of peace in August 2013. He was committed to Whiting for 10 years after a lifetime of incarceration dating to when he was a teenager.

But in less than a year at Whiting, Anderson was arrested multiple times for assaulting staff members and patients in violent attacks and altercations. In what some called an unprecedented move, Superior Court Judge David P. Gold set bail at $100,000 for Anderson during an arraignment in August on a charge of assault of a public safety officer/health care personnel, ensuring that Anderson would be in the custody of the Department of Correction — not at Whiting — while his cases were adjudicated.

In denying Anderson's motion objecting to the bail, Gold said he did not accept the argument that the court cannot set bail for someone acquitted by reason of insanity who has been charged with subsequent serious crimes at the hospital. Doing so, Gold said, would mean that a defendant would be free to commit however many serious crimes he or she wanted with the guarantee that he or she would be returned to the hospital with the same victimized staff and patients.

Anderson has appealed to the state Supreme Court. The case will be argued in January.